


2093

by Seathesilverlining (untilweseeawingshot)



Series: 2093 [1]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Aunt Kayo, Aunt Penny - Freeform, Aunt Ridley, Aunts and Uncles, Brothers, Brothers and Sisters - Freeform, Cousins, F/M, Family Fluff, Fun Uncle Alan, Grandpa!Jeff, Great Grandma Sally, IR Next Gen, International Rescue Next Gen, M/M, Next Generation, OC, OFC - Freeform, OMC - Freeform, Original Characters - Freeform, Parent Brains and Brawn, Parent Jobannon, Parent Pen&Ink, Parent Scayo, Parents, Partners in Crime, Siblings, Sister!EOS, Sisters, Thunderbirds Next Gen, Tracy Kids - Freeform, Tracy Next Gen - Freeform, Tracy Offspring - Freeform, Twins, Uncle Brains, Uncle Gordon - Freeform, Uncle John - Freeform, Uncle Scott, Uncle Virgil, Underage Drinking, character injury, family stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27135992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untilweseeawingshot/pseuds/Seathesilverlining
Summary: The year is 2093.And a group of young people have some incredibly big boots to fill.Tags/Ships updated as chapters are added!
Relationships: Brains/Virgil Tracy, Captain Ridley O'Bannon/John Tracy, Penelope Creighton-Ward/Gordon Tracy, Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano/Scott Tracy
Series: 2093 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096850
Comments: 58
Kudos: 39





	1. Space Monitor Number 3

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I've ever promoted a fic more in my life!

Stella Oriana Tracy.

Born 2068, to John Glenn Tracy and Captain Ridley O’Bannon

Only Child.

Stella zipped up the hidden seam of her space suit, royal and pale blue, just like Mom’s and Dad’s but where theirs had orange detailing Stella’s was white (Thank you Uncle Brains). She braided her hair back off of her face like she did every day, and she pretended not to notice the camera monitor hovering outside of her bedroom door, like she also did every day.

When she was finally ready, she pressed the button, her bedroom door opened with a hiss and the camera whirred happily.

“Morning EOS!” Stella grinned.

“Good morning Stella.”

EOS hadn’t changed a bit since Stella was too tiny to understand what was happening when the ceiling spoke to her. And while some of her cousins still, even as they’re getting well on into adulthood, found EOS’s constant presence unsettling, Stella was sure that she’d feel a lot less safe without it.

She loved her Mom and Dad, but EOS had been her constant throughout her entire life.

She remembers before she moved to the mainland to go to college, when her parents and Uncle Alan would take it in turns to man Thunderbird Five. She would have one month with Mom, one with Dad and then two with them both before the cycle repeated itself. Sometimes in the school holidays though, they’d spend a few days up there, just the three of them. And then when she moved to college her parents went up to Five together on a more permanent basis, like her Aunts, Uncles, and Grandpa had told her they did before she was born.

But EOS was always there. Always keeping an eye on her, whether she liked it or not. Even at college from her little mobile unit that Stella took everywhere with her, even parties.

As soon as she finished her bachelors and masters in astrophysics, her astronaut training (all before the age of twenty she might add), and Grandpa had given his go ahead she had moved up to Thunderbird Five to be with her parents. Once she did, EOS and her cameras followed her _everywhere_. Not that she wasn’t glad for the company but sometimes it was a bit much.

She wished that her cyber sister would keep more of an eye on Mom and Dad now they were getting older.

“Where _are_ Mom and Dad?” She wondered aloud. Five wasn’t that big, she would find them any second. But it took EOS’s eyes off of her for a moment.

EOS was silent for a moment, probably activating one of her other cameras around Five.

“They are in the kitchen, eating breakfast.”

Good, at least they weren’t working already.

She walked around to the other side of the gravity ring and pressed the button to open the kitchen door, EOS still close behind.

John and Ridley both immediately turned to her.

Mom and Dad haven’t changed all that much either.

Sure, they both have a few grey hairs (some of Dad’s are probably down to keeping an eye on her, and her cousins as they’ve started to take on roles in International Rescue) and lines around their eyes, but their energy is still the same.

“Good morning sweetheart.” Her mother reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she sat down.

“Morning Mom, Morning Dad.”

“Morning Star.” Her father pulled her close and kissed her head as he got up to clear his and her mother’s dishes.

Ridley smiled at them and Stella remembered the stories everyone used to tell her about Dad not being comfortable with physical contact. And she’s seen it, in the way he flinches a little when anyone other than her, her mother, Aunt Penny or Uncle Alan hugs him without warning. But he’s never flinched away from her, in fact he’s the first person she goes to when she wants a hug.

When he returned to the table, he put a plate in front of her.

“Pancakes?! No way! Since when?!”

“Special delivery from Uncle Alan. He brought them up on the supply run yesterday, specifically for you.”

They had let her handle Space Monitor duty solo yesterday, so she had missed her uncle’s visit, but this sort of made up for the lack of a hug.

“Well, that settles it. Uncle Alan is the best uncle ever.” She grinned before digging into her pancakes, a luxury she didn’t normally get up here.

“Be sure to tell him that so he can rub it in Uncle Gordons face, won’t you?” John winked at her; turquoise eyes identical to her own shining with brotherly mischief that was still alive in the older man, and each of his brothers.

Stella had never really hidden that Uncle Alan was her favourite. In those early days when Dad was up on Five and Mom was down with her or vice versa, he used to take her out stargazing so that Ridley and John could talk to each other for a while without worrying about her. He would point out stars, planets and constellations and tell a tiny Stella their stories while she listened in awe.

“Oh, definitely.”

They chatted while she ate, all four of them, mainly about the plan for their mandatory down time coming up the next week. Stella nodded along and when she had finished and taken care of her dishes, Dad put an arm around her, and she smiled up at him.

“Let’s get to work.”

After a few hours of virtual radio silence (nothing the GDF couldn’t handle on their own) her parents had retreated for a break, leaving Stella alone at the helm with only EOS by her side.

Things were still going smoothly until a combined yellow and pink IR symbol flashed up on the holographic globe, somewhere over England.

She hurriedly looked over her shoulder for her parents before selecting the call.

“Good timing kiddo…”


	2. London Agent Number 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I didn't realise how short this was until it came to posting but I promise there's a reason!  
> Enjoy!

Paxton James Creighton-Ward-Tracy

Born 2069, to Gordon Cooper Tracy and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward

Oldest Child.

They must be around here somewhere. No one is that good at hiding a set of car keys. No one. Sure, the manor is big, but it’s not that big. And, as his Uncle Virgil would say, it’s a finite area, there’s only a certain number of hiding places.

Paxton knew he still had a few hours before Mum and Dad get back and he needed to find the key before then, because he needed to be gone before then or he wouldn't be able to sneak off at all. Leave while they're out and then deal with the consequences later. He could just use the manual override on the car, he knew how to do it, but that would send a notification to his parents and that was just not worth the hassle.

He was in the kitchen now. He had searched everywhere else downstairs apart from the library, but that was a big room and he was only going to search it if he had to.

Look for anything out of place. Anything that looks like it shouldn’t be there. Anything you’ve never noticed before. That’s what Aunt Kayo used to tell him.  
The only problem is that everything in the kitchen looks out of place to him. It’s all foreign. He’s barely been allowed in here since the time he and his sister tried to make Mum a birthday cake and almost set the whole Manor on fire.

That was only three years ago.

But that’s not important.

“Come on, it’s a key card, why do you even bother hiding it?”

Because you always try to take the car without permission, idiot.

He ran his fingers through his blond hair and was about to scream in frustration when he spotted the row of cookbooks on top of the cupboards that he had never seen before.

“Bingo.”

He pulled himself up onto the counter and stood up, at least he had good balance. He needed to remember clean up after himself or Dad will _kill_ him.

Instead of checking every book page by page, he picked each one up and shook it out, willing something to drop out of one of them. To his surprise when he got to the fourth book an envelope dropped out and hit the floor with a click.

Yes!

Paxton replaced the book carefully and hopped down off the counter, retrieving his prize before grabbing a cloth to wipe his dirty shoe prints off the countertop.

He checked the room to make sure that nothing looked disturbed and everything was back in its exact place (an advantage to his training from Mum and Aunt Kayo) then opened the door to leave, not looking up from opening the envelope.

He barely had a second to consider why it was in an envelope in the first place when he crashed right into someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guess right? I know a few of you had an inkling!


	3. Parkers Protégé

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the reason!

Genevieve Laura Creighton-Ward-Tracy

Born 2069, to Gordon Cooper Tracy and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward

Second Oldest, by thirty minutes.

She can’t believe her brother roped her into this. She had intended to spend the day outside, by the pool, maybe go for a run, or just generally _relax_. There weren’t many down days in her life, so she wanted to cherish every single one. She didn’t know how her mother had done it all on her own when she was the age Genevieve is now. The seemingly constant engagements and parties and general keeping up appearances wasn’t anywhere near as glamorous as the tabloids would have you believe. It was exhausting. Especially when you hated it.

But instead of taking advantage, here she was, searching for a key card to a car that they weren’t supposed to take out without their parent’s permission anyway. All because her twin brother had the capacity for relaxation of a monkey on some kind of stimulation drugs. She had carefully searched all of the bedrooms and their en suites, not that she thought her parents would hide it in the family suites, but the guest rooms were fair game. She had checked her parents shared office, probably the smallest room in the whole building, including the bathrooms.

“Pax I hate you so much right now.” She muttered to herself as she closed the door.

Genevieve was of the belief that their parents would have taken the key with them, because let’s face it, she and Paxton have been pulling the same shit week in, week out, since Parker retired, and they must be sick of it by now. Her brother however reckons they wouldn’t leave them without a means of a quick get-away if something was to happen, and while sure there are other vehicles in the garage, none of them provide a quicker and more secure escape than FAB 1 herself.

_“Just think, we could go to the coast. Spend a few hours there and be back before Mum and Dad get home!”_

Genevieve recalled the conversation that got her into this mess as she pushed open the door to her final room. Were Dad and her uncles ever like this? She wondered. She made a mental note to ask Grandpa next time she spoke to him.

Okay, anything out of the ordinary? No. It’s just the games room. Same as it’s always been, all her life. Giant, antique, snooker table dominating the beginning of the room to try and stick to the façade of being a posh manor house, while the air hockey table and vintage video games her dad loves and they all actually use (including Mum) are stuck at the back, partially out of sight.

Wait.

Why is that picture crooked?

She approached the picture hung on the wall at the far side of the room. She recognised it as one of her Uncle Virgil’s paintings and let her fingers drift across it. If only she had the patience. She straightened the picture up and an envelope fell out of the back.

No way.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What is this? Amateur hour?” She snorted as she picked the envelope up from the floor.

She couldn’t believe her parents would make it so easy. It was almost like they didn’t even try.

Hang on.

She was halfway through opening the envelope when she stopped

It should never have been that easy.

Gordon Cooper Tracy and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward were not this stupid.

She wasn’t surprised when she opened the envelope. Impressed, but not surprised.

**

She was just about to open the kitchen door when it opened, and Paxton walked straight into her.

“Shit Gen! Watch where you’re going!”

“Me!?”

“Yeah you.”

Genevie glared at him, arms folded across her chest.

“Anyway, look!” He held up a half-opened envelope identical to hers triumphantly. “Found it!”

“Open it.”

There must have been something in her voice that told him all was not as it seemed because the grin fell off of his face and his arm dropped back to his side.

“Just do it Pax.”

He finished opening the envelope and pulled out the card inside it. His enthusiasm faded.

In his hand he now held an actual card, not a key card as he had hoped and in Dads handwriting on the front it read. ‘Nice try Manta Ray’.

“How did they know?”

“No clue.” She held up her own card which read ‘Better luck next time Jellyfish’.

They had even known which card would be found by who, using Dad’s nicknames for each of them on the front.

“Shit they’re good.”

“Apparently this is a lesson in never underestimating a Tracy or a Creighton-Ward, regardless of their age.”

**

Gordon smiled across the table at his wife of twenty-six years.

“I wonder if they’ve found them yet.”

“I’d be disappointed if they hadn’t by now, they’ve had two hours.” Penny raised her glass, and he clinked his own against it.

“Cheers to many more years of pranking our children.” Gordon smirked, patting the key card to FAB 1 still securely in his pocket.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way darling.”


	4. Thunderbird Two (co)pilot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was so late! I got distracted 😂

Marie Aria Hackenbacker-Tracy

Adopted as an infant 2071, by Virgil Grissom Tracy and Hiram “Brains” Hackenbacker.

Oldest Child.

A quiet day on Tracy Island is rare with twelve inhabitants, especially when three of them are teenagers, but so far that is what today is. Marie reached back over her shoulder and knocked twice on the leg of the piano she was leaning against; she didn’t need to look up to know her dad was smiling down at her and shaking his head.

“Keep your eyes on your sheet music old man.” She smirked, but when the music above her stopped she knew she had made a mistake. “I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!” She shrieked, tossing her sketchbook and pencils to the side and trying to scrabble to her feet before he could extricate himself from the piano stool.

But her fluffy socked feet betrayed her, and she skidded on the hardwood floor. This gave Virgil enough time to scoop his daughter up and sling her over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry! You’re not an old man! Well, I mean, technically you are…”

“Okay, that’s it.”

Virgil shifted her so her weight was distributed more evenly on his shoulder and walked outside.

“No! NO!” She was still shrieking but laughing so Virgil didn’t feel guilty.

When they got to the edge of the pool Marie noticed another family member on a sun lounger, who raised her eyebrows at the scene and lowered her sunglasses to observe, olive green eyes meeting pale brown.

“Call your Dad old again Mari?”

“Aunt Kayo!” Marie shouted, sounding a little relieved, Aunt Kayo always takes her side. “Aunt Kayo help!”

“Oh no girl.” Kayo shook her head and replaced her sunglasses over her eyes. “I’m not saying you’re wrong, but you know the consequences of your actions.”

Virgil turned his attention to Kayo for a second.

“Be careful or you’re next.”

Kayo scoffed. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Please Dad! I’m sorry!” When that tactic doesn’t work, she tries another. “I love you Dad.”

Aunt Kayo laughed.

“You’re really trying your hardest, aren’t you?”

“Help me?” She tried again.

“Sorry.”

Marie managed to toss her circular, wire rimmed glasses onto a nearby lounger before her dad hoisted her back over his shoulder and she splashed into the pool with a scream. But before she resurfaced there was another splash into the water right in front of her.

When she surfaced she looked around, wondering if Dad was actually brave enough to throw Aunt Kayo into the pool too. But Aunt Kayo was laughing so hard Marie wasn’t sure if she could actually breathe properly, Dad wasn’t standing there anymore and in his place was a spider-like robot who chirped and whirred happily upon seeing her.

It took her a second to put the pieces together and Dad resurfaced next to her.

“MAX! Did you push Dad into the pool?”

The robot whistled and nodded, folding his arms across his front.

Marie grinned as she pulled herself out of the pool and she patted the robot affectionately on the head.

“Good boy. Thank you.” She praised him and he handed her a towel to dry off with.

“Traitor.” Her dad muttered as he passed them and Aunt Kayo tossed him her towel.

“You should know better by now Virgil. If someone else doesn’t come to her rescue MAX always will.”

“You’re right, I should know that after twenty-two years.”

Marie stuck her tongue out at him and Virgil took it as a challenge.

“You want to go back in?”

“I like my chances at staying dry while you take another swim with MAX around.” Marie shrugged, peeling her wet socks off her feet.

“Oh, you’re on.” Virgil tossed the towel aside and advanced towards his daughter.

MAX wiggled in his spot and took up a defensive stance beside her.

“I’m already soaked old man, bring it on.”


	5. Research And Development

Leo Grant Hackenbacker-Tracy

Adopted as an infant 2073, by Virgil Grissom Tracy and Hiram “Brains” Hackenbacker.

Youngest Child.

When MAX returned to the lab after shooting off like a bat out of hell, his wheels left little wet trails behind him and Leo couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a mess his sister had gotten herself into this time.

“Hey MAX. Did she call Dad old again?”

MAX whistled and chirped his confirmation.

“Thought so.” He nodded, smirking to himself.

“Leo! C-could you p-press the yellow button for m-me?”

Leo didn’t even look up from the plans he was sketching. “I’m pressing nothing while you’re stood so close Papa. I’m not being responsible for Dad losing his mind when you end up in the med bay again.”

MAX whistled in a ‘Nuh-uh’ kind of way beside him, folding his arms across his front and shaking his head at Brains.

“N-nothing like that will happen Leo, I promise.”

He still didn’t look up. “That’s what you said last time and the whole thing sprang apart in your face, and Dad went crazy because he thought you were really hurt.”

“F-fine.” Brains stepped down off the platform, away from his latest invention. “H-how about now?”

Leo finally looked up and once he determined that Papa was in fact at a reasonable distance, he crossed the floor and pressed the yellow button.

Nothing happened. 

“Press it again.”

He did. Still nothing happened.

“D-dammit. There m-m-must be a faulty c-connection somewhere.”

“Press the red one just in case?”

“Y-yes. Better to be s-safe.”

Leo pressed the red button, and listened to the connecting wires power down, but instead of going back to the work bench and his designs he picked his way across all of the wires to where his father was standing.

“What are you thinking?”

“T-take it apart and p-put it back together again once we f-f-find the problem.”

“Okay,” Leo nodded. “Where do we start?”

After two hours of piece by tiny piece deconstruction they had found the problem. And it was the tiniest issue possible. A broken connection within a circuit board that was quickly replaced with a new one and set aside for fixing later. It took them almost three hours to put the thing back together.

“What is this for anyway?” Leo picked up the small cannister like object and turned it over in his hands.

Brains took it from him and set it down in the table.

“I-it’s a modifier for T-thunderbird Four’s engines. T-this s-should allow them to go deeper than before without worry.”

“Huh…” Leo considered the small object. “Just the one?”

“No, t-there will be f-four in total. Two on either side. B-but I need to get the one working first and p-perform a d-depth test, t-to make sure there are n-no problems in the water.”

Brains dug through a pile of papers on another work bench and handed Leo a plan of Thunderbird Four with, sure enough, four of the cannister like modifiers on the engines.

Leo nodded as he looked the plan over.

“Time to test if it actually works again?”

“I’ll connect it b-back up, and you p-press the button when I say.”

“I’m only pressing the button if you’re at a safe distance.”

“Okay, o-okay… You sound more and more like your Dad all the time.”

“Good.”

Once the wires were all connected back up and Brains was stood by his side Leo pressed the yellow button and the modifier instantly lit up.

“W-we did it!” Brains grinned triumphantly, putting an arm around Leo and hugging him close, they were the same height now, so it was a little awkward, but it felt good none the less.

“We?” All Leo had done was help to identify the problem, Papa had done the rest.

“O-of course _we_. T-team effort.”


	6. Field Medic

George Alan Creighton-Ward-Tracy

Born 2073, to Gordon Cooper Tracy and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward

Middle Child.

His mother was going to kill him. That’s it. End of. When she found him, she was going to kill him, and this time he wasn’t confident Dad would be able to distract her.

In his defence he was twenty years old now and more than old enough to make his own decisions. A sentiment his mother echoed when he wasn’t putting himself in danger just for the fun of it.

Actually, forget Mum, Grandpa might kill him.

All he wanted was a day to himself, that was it, not too much to ask really. So he had decided to do some rock climbing, on his own, and that had been his first mistake. His second mistake had been leaving his phone in the storage seat of his motorbike, because this meant there was no discreet way of letting anyone know he was in trouble, and he would have to use the IR channel, and Uncle John would _definitely_ rat him out directly to his mother.

He had no other options. The comms went directly through Thunderbird Five and were connected that way. He just had to pray that Stella was at the helm instead of her parents today.

George raised his arm to bring his communicuff into view and the limb screamed at him. Definitely broken then. Again. He felt a cold sweat break out throughout his body as he pressed what he hoped were the right buttons.

A figure with red hair and turquoise eyes appeared in front of him and he thought he had signed his death warrant until:

_“Hey George! Holy shit! What have you done now?”_

_“He appears to be injured.”_

Stella swiped her hand through the air above her head at where EOS’s camera monitor must have been.

_“Thank you for that assessment. Go distract Mom and Dad, and don’t tell them what’s going on unless I say so.”_

“I think I might need some assistance. Can you get in touch with Pax or Gen?”

_“Sure… But are you sure you don’t need Uncle Scott? Or your Mom? Or you know, an adult?”_

“You’re an adult. And so are Pax and Gen, and me.”

_“Yeah, but I mean… Never mind. One secure link to the twin things coming up.”_

His older brother and sister appeared in holographic form next to Stella.

 _“Dad is coming so I have to go. But let me know you’re safe and don’t do anything stupid guys.”_ And with that Stella closed her end of the channel.

“You know how you guys are the best big brother and sister ever.”

_“Mum is going to **kill** you.”_

“Not if you guys come and get me and the only thing that she and Dad think happened is that I fell out of a tree and not off of a cliff face.”

_“ **A cliff face!** ”_

“A small cliff face.”

_“Mum and Dad have taken FAB 1’s key card with them so good luck.”_

“There’s a spare in my room. Between the mattress topper and the mattress itself.”

The twins looked at each other, before turning back to him.

_“ **How** did you get that?”_

“Found it.” He ground out, hissing in pain. “Please hurry up and come get me.”

_“Stella sent us your location. We’ll be there in fifteen.”_

“Thanks.”

“You are such an _idiot_.” Genevieve hissed hugging him close as they settled on the back seat of FAB 1, brushing sweat dampened blonde hair from his forehead. “Why wouldn’t you tie a safety line?”

“I just wanted to do some free form climbing.”

The look she gave him put him in mind of their mother.

“It’s something I’ll never do again, alone at least.”

“No, it’s something you’ll never do again. Period.” Paxton growled as he slid into the driver’s seat, having secured George’s bike to FAB 1.

“I said I was sorry.” George mumbled.

“Not good enough.” His brother snapped. “You’re supposed to be our IR Field Medic as well as designated FAB 1 pilot. How could you take such a stupid risk?!”

“I’m twenty years old! I’m _supposed_ to be at least a little stupid!”

“Can we save the fighting for when we get back home please boys? He needs to go to the hospital Pax.”

Ah Gen, he could always count on his big sister to be the peacemaker.

“You know they’ll call Mum and Dad, right?”

“We’re all over eighteen now, they won’t.”

They did.

“What were you thinking!” Mum had been shouting at him for almost ten minutes.

Unfortunately for George after so many bone breakages from so many stupid stunts throughout his twenty years on the planet, the hospital staff knew him on sight and immediately called his parents. And they had been waiting for them when they got home.

Dad had been comparatively chill next to Mum, and had apparently been trying to talk her down, but she was absolutely beside herself with worry. And while she had showered his older siblings with praise for rescuing him, she seemed to have nothing but frustration for him.

“You could have been killed! You could have _died_ George!”

“I know Mum I’m…”

“Don’t you dare tell me you’re sorry young man! I’ve heard that enough from you over the years when you’ve pulled a stunt like this! If you really meant it you wouldn’t keep putting yourself in harms way like this!”

George opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him again.

“At least when you’re planning on doing something stupid take Pax or Gen or someone else with you! What if you had been knocked unconscious and you hadn’t been able to get hold of them?!”

It was good to know Stella hadn’t ratted him out.

“Can you just please, for once in your life be _careful_. Please?”

She wasn’t shouting anymore, and that made George’s heart sink. He preferred it when she shouted at him, he could block that out and get on with his day. But when she was quiet, he knew she wasn’t angry at him, she was terrified. He had scared his mother to the point of real actual fear, again, and she was right, an empty apology wasn’t good enough this time.

“I’m sorry Mum.” He whispered, eyes on the floor. “I’m really sorry I scared you.”

And just like that the aristocratic Ladyship façade instantly dropped from his mother’s whole being, and she was just his Mum again. She was smaller than him by about half a foot with her high heels on, but she still managed to wrap him in her arms like she had when he was tiny and hold him tight.

“I love you so much. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.” She mumbled against his temple as she kissed his head.

“I love you too Mum.”


	7. First Responder Number 2

Arthur Jefferson Tracy

Born 2076, to Scott Carpenter Tracy and Tanusha “Kayo” Kyrano.

Oldest Child.

“Come on Arthur! Keep up!”

According to his tracker they’ve been running Tracy Islands coastal paths for ten miles and Arthur is more than ready to tap out. Dad is sixty, how does he do this?

His lungs are on fire. So are his muscles. Arms, legs, everything, engulfed in flame.

“Dad! I need…” Just speaking brings on more of a searing pain in his chest, and he stops, doubling over with his hands resting on his knees. “I need…” He can’t breathe, he’s just gasping for air.

Scott stops instantly and turns back sharply.

“Hey, hey…” He puts a hand on Arthurs back and guides him slowly to the floor. “You need a break, that’s okay.” He crouches down next to his son.

Arthur looks up at him.

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“But you never…” Arthur is cut off again by his lack of oxygen.

“Slow breaths. That’s it. Try not to gasp for breath that’ll only make it worse.”

Sometimes Arthur is starkly reminded that his dad is the oldest of five and has been parenting kids since long, long before he was born.

“I never need to take a break? Is that what you were going to say?”

Arthur just nodded.

“That’s because I’m used to it, I’ve been doing this kind of training for over thirty, nearly forty years. We’ve only been running this full path together for a few months. And you’ve gotten better every time.”

Arthur smiled.

“There are other things that I can’t do as quickly or as well as other people too.” Scott sits down next to him. “Take your Uncle Gordon for instance, I can’t swim nearly as well or for nearly as long as he can. I can’t handle anti-gravity as well as Uncle John, Uncle Alan or Aunt Ridley, even Stella has been managing better at it than me for _years_. But I bet the only one of them that could keep up with me around here is Uncle John, because he’s been running it with me for years. We all have our different strengths, it’s what makes us who we are. You want to be able to do something well? You just need to practise, build your skills up at your own pace, and once you’ve mastered one step on the ladder, then you move onto the next.”

Arthur stared at his dad in silence for a moment before nodding his understanding.

“Drink some water.” Scott nods to the water bottle clutched tightly in Arthurs hand. “Small sips, don’t gulp it.”

They sat together for about ten minutes and drank their water.

Once Arthur’s breathing returned back to normal Scott checked his temperature with a hand to Arthurs forehead and checked his pulse on his tracker, then obviously satisfied he stood up.

“Do you want to head back, or do you want to continue? Either option is okay.”

“I want to keep going.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Arthur insisted, getting to his feet.

“Alright, we’ll walk for a couple of minutes first and then - - Hey!”

Arthur had taken off ahead of him.

“What was that Dad?! I can’t hear you from this distance!” He laughed, a care-free noise that Scott would never get sick of hearing.

Scott grinned an shook his head, his son might have been his double, but he reminded him so much of his two youngest brothers.

“Game on.” He muttered to himself, taking off after the teenager.


	8. Aquanaut Number 2

Piper Sally Creighton-Ward-Tracy

Born 2077, to Gordon Cooper Tracy and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward

Youngest Child.

Piper could hear Mum shouting at her brother from her bedroom. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she had noticed that George had his arm in a cast again, something he definitely didn’t have this morning.

One look on Dad’s face had told her she didn’t want to know, and she’d accepted it at face value, heading back upstairs to change before venturing outside.

She’d already been swimming once today, this morning with Dad just before breakfast, but she knew no one would say anything about her jumping back in the pool before dinner. They were all too distracted by whatever George had done this time.

After about half an hour on her own in the pool she felt the water shift and stopped mid-stroke to look around in time to see her dad resurface from what was probably a perfect dive.

“Back at it again Angelfish?” He called as he swam over to her.

“Mum says it’s your fault I’m never out of the water.” She shrugged.

“I’ll gladly take responsibility for that. Especially if it means I get part of the glory for that Olympic Gold.”

“I haven’t won it yet.” She splashed him as he got closer.

“No, but you will.”

Everyone who met the family (and everyone in the family) always said that Gordon and Piper were like two peas in a pod. She was his mini me, even apparently screaming, crying and being generally inconsolable whenever she was without him for the first two years of her life. Dad insisted it was payback for her brothers following their mother and sister following Parker around like little lost ducklings.

They were all blonde, but she was the only one of the four of them that had Gordon’s doe eyes, and while the others enjoyed being in the water and were naturals in it just like their father, it was where Piper shone. Like her father before her she had made the Olympic team and was currently in training for the games next year. In training she was even in line to shave at least a quarter of a second off of Dad’s old record. A fact he pretended to pout about; but would always beam with pride whenever it was mentioned.

“Want to race?”

“Are you allowing me a fun session coach?!” Piper asked in mock disbelief.

Gordon laughed and splashed her with the water as she had done him.

“Well I think we can all benefit from some fun once in a while, just don’t tell Uncle Scott.”

“Uncle Scott isn’t so bad.”

“Not anymore. But when we were growing up, I swear he didn’t know how to have fun.”

“Dad…”

“Okay, so he might’ve had a lot more on his plate than the rest of us did, but still.”

They raced from one end of the pool to another in every different stroke her father could think of. Sometimes Piper would win, sometimes Gordon would win and sometimes they would call it a tie.

When they finished their latest race, Penelope was stood in the doorway watching them, holding two large fluffy towels. And they took it as a sign it was time to get out.

“I’ll never get the two of you to stay away from that pool for more than a few hours, will I?”

“No, never.” Gordon kissed her cheek as he took his towel from her.

As Piper got closer, she could see the red ringing her mother’s eyes and how bloodshot they were. She had been crying.

“Are you okay Mum?” She asked as she was wrapped in a tight hug as well as a towel.

“Perfectly fine darling,”

Piper was about to ask what had happened when another towel was dropped unceremoniously on her head and used to dry her hair. She shrieked.

“Dad!” She laughed as her mother’s arms were replaced by her fathers and she was scooped up off the floor. “Stop it!”

“Come on Angelfish, lets get sorted for dinner.”

When Piper looked back over Dad’s shoulder for Mum, she could see her laughing and knew that things probably weren’t as bad as she thought.

Piper didn’t bother to dry her hair properly and just squeezed the excess water out and ruffled it as dry as she could with a towel before getting changed and heading downstairs.

She sniffed the air. Was that pizza? They never had pizza at home. She was about to push open the door to the dining room when Gen appeared from the kitchen holding a bottle of wine and redirected her to the lounge.

“Not today Pipes.” Her sister slung an arm around her shoulders.

Was this really happening? This hadn’t happened since they were little. Even on the odd occasion when the whole family was here and the eating arrangements were much, much less formal due to the sheer volume of people, they didn’t resort to the lounge.

“Finally! Wondered what was taking you so long!” George raised a wine glass in the air.

“Are you talking to me or Gen?” Piper asked, grinning as she settled down next to him on the sofa, putting her feet up in his lap.

“The wine.”

“Standard.” Gen rolled her eyes.

“That’s funny isn’t it,” Dad leaned forward and snatched the wine glass out of George’s hand. “Because you can’t drink on your painkillers.”

“ _What?_ ” George looked horrified.

“Nope. Uncle Virgil did that to me so many times, actually feels good to do it to someone else.”

George pouted and Paxton reached over to pat him consolingly on the head.

Gen laughed, as she filled all of the other glasses. “Oh well, more for the rest of us.” Stopping at Piper she turned to Penelope, who was leaning against Gordon with her bare feet up on the sofa.

“One glass.” She conceded. “Just the one.”

“Yes!” Piper grinned as Gen poured the wine into a glass and handed it to her.

“Hey! No fair! She’s sixteen!”

“Sixteen and not on painkillers out of her own stupidity.” Gen smiled sweetly at George who stuck his tongue out in response.

“Okay, so before they get cold, we have Pepperoni for Dad, Vegetarian for Mum,” Paxton started passing out pizza boxes. “One meat feast, two meat feast,” He kept a box for himself and handed another to George. “Ham and mushroom,” Gen reached over and took the box from him. “And finally, a ham and pineapple for the heathen.” He mock-shuddered as he handed Piper her box.

“I’ll have you know it’s a good pizza.”

“Say whatever you like, still makes me want to disown you.”

Piper laughed. “Don’t worry the feeling’s mutual.”

“Before we forget,”

The phrase made the conversation die and all four children focussed their attention on their parents immediately. It was usually followed by them being told they had to get dressed up to go to some kind of big event in the next couple of days that their parents knew they really wouldn’t want to go to. And it must be a real horror show if they were getting buttered up with takeaway pizza.

“Wow, you all look terrified.” Gordon laughed. “It’s nothing that bad.”

“We’re going to Tracy Island for a week, on Sunday.”

“We need a break from social engagements and galas and important dinners for a bit. Plus, the tropical sun won’t hurt.”

“Can’t we go first thing tomorrow instead?” Paxton asked.

Gordon laughed. “We kind of have to let them know we’re coming first kid.”

“Also, we all need to pack.”

“I can be done in five minutes.” Piper insisted.

“Of course you can when all you wear while we’re there is shorts and swim wear.”

“And, what’s your point? You’re not exactly going to need a ballgown Gen.”

“Sunday, and that’s it. No room for movement.” Penelope put a stop to the squabbling before it could start.

“I’m still packing before I go to bed.” Piper pouted.

“You do that Angelfish.” Gordon smiled.

“I will.” She nodded.

For the rest of the evening they ate their pizza’s and put on a movie that nobody actually watched because they were all too busy talking to even pay attention to it.

George quietly told Piper what had happened so that Mum didn’t overhear, and she called him an idiot just like everyone else. Which he accepted and admitted to her that it was an assessment he even agreed with.

Pax and Gen recounted their search for the FAB 1 key and finding the cards instead, at which Gordon and Penelope laughed, happy to have outsmarted their children. Then revealed they had made them hand over George’s spare key the moment they had walked back through the door.

When it got to ten o’clock they cleared up the rubbish from the lounge, said goodnight and all headed off to bed.

No sooner had Piper shut her door behind her and pulled her pyjama top over her head, her phone rang. And she answered it without a thought.


	9. Astronaut (number who knows at this point?)

Wren Lucy Tracy

Born 2077, to Scott Carpenter Tracy and Tanusha “Kayo” Kyrano.

Middle Child.

There was a loud bang and the whole rocket shuddered as something large and probably heavy collided with the outside of Thunderbird Three.

“Shit!” Wren cursed throwing her hands up in the air.

Uncle Alan laughed, he always let her swear. He took back the controls and effortlessly swerved around the flailing space debris.

 _“What was that?”_ Her grandfathers voice burst from the comms.

They both jumped, they had forgotten they were still openly connected to the island.

“Nothing Dad, everything’s fine.”

_“That didn’t sound fine Alan.”_

“All of our readouts are fine. We haven’t been sucked out into deep space, so Three’s structural integrity is fine. We’re fine. Everything’s fine.”

_“Alan…”_

“Everything is fine Grandpa.” Wren jumped in. “Fine, fine, fine. Totally fine. Completely fine.”

_“Can you two stop saying the word ‘fine’? You’re giving me a migraine.”_

Wren laughed. “Sorry Aunt Ridley…”

“Yeah that’s fine. We can stop saying the word fine. It’s fine to stop saying fine.”

_“Alan. I swear to god I will have EOS take over Thunderbird Three and pilot you both right back to the island if you don’t stop it.”_

“But Uncle John,” Wren said dramatically. “Then who would clean up all this space garbage?”

John frowned and the comms were silent for a moment.

_“I hope you’ve thanked Scott and Kayo for providing you with a carbon copy of yourself baby brother.”_

“One day I’ll make them a cake.” Alan reached over and ruffled Wren’s dark hair.

 _“Alright, enough.”_ Grandpa’s voice broke over the channel again. _“Get back on the task at hand you two.”_

“Aye, aye, Captain Grandpa.” Wren mock saluted and Alan laughed.

 _“It’s Colonel Grandpa to you Birdie.”_ Jeff corrected with a smile as he closed the comm channel.

_“Be careful guys.”_

_“Shout if you need us.”_

The open link to Thunderbird Five also closed.

“I thought no one could hear you shout in space?”

“Scream, Birdie. No one can hear you scream.” Uncle Alan corrected, before adding as an after-thought. “Never let your Mom and Dad know I let you watch that movie.”

“It was a good movie though.”

“It is. But your Dad will murder me if he finds out you watched it. Especially if he finds out it was when you were ten.”

“That’s true.” She nodded.

“Alright, let’s do as we’re told and get back to the task at hand.” He transferred the controls back to her. “Over to you fledgling.”

“Ooo, baby bird just learning to fly. That one is educated.”

“Shut up and collect the space trash.”

After a lot of success but a few more near misses and close calls Alan could see Wren getting physically as well as emotionally frustrated.

With the next miss and the chunk of debris that came flying right at Thunderbird Three’s windshield she transferred control back to him, abandoned her seat and stormed off in a huff. Alan steered them out of the debris field and turned on the autopilot, before leaving his own seat to follow her.

He didn’t say anything when he found her, just sat down next to her on the floor where she sat with her arms around her legs, her knees drawn up to her chest, and her head resting on them.

Alan didn’t know how long they were sat for before she finally lifter her head and looked at him, eyes brimming with tears and sniffling.

“Hey… There’s no need to get upset, you’re doing really well.”

“No, I’m not.” Her voice was thick with tears and frustration. “I suck.”

“You don’t.”

“I do. I can’t even do the simplest thing. All we’re doing is clearing up some rubbish and I’ve nearly damaged Thunderbird Three at least five times.”

“So what?”

“I _can’t do it._ ”

“Now you’re being stupid. Of course you can.”

“I _can’t_. Didn’t you see how much of a disaster that was? I can’t even attach a tow line properly. And it’s computer assisted.”

“You’ll learn.”

“It’s not that easy.” She insisted.

“It is.” Alan retorted.

Most of the time, he loved how much Wren was like him. She was the sweetest little goofball, and literally his favourite person on the planet; but sometimes he hated how much she reminded him of himself. The insecurities, the self-doubt and related self-sabotage, all bubbled to the surface when she thought she couldn’t do something, just like he remembered happening with himself when he was younger, growing up with four older brothers and a famous father with their five reputations to live up to hadn’t been the easiest to deal with in his younger days.

“Look. You _haven’t_ actually caused any damage. You haven’t. So that means everything is okay. You’ve made a couple of mistakes, so what? That’s life. That’s how you learn. Sometimes it just is. We can’t all be perfect one hundred per-cent of the time. If we were, life would be unbearably boring.” He knew he was on the right track when the tears disappeared, and the sniffling was left on its own. “You want to take a guess at how many of the Thunderbirds are actually in their complete original state not including upgrades?” She didn’t speak but she was listening and that was enough. “None of them. Not a single one.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. They’ve all taken serious damage at some point or another. Five not so serious but still damage. Four and Shadow have both had to be completely rebuilt at least twice.”

“I didn’t know that.” She lifted her head properly.

“Well it’s not something we like to broadcast.” Alan shrugged and Wren laughed a little. He patted the floor they were sitting on. “This old girl has needed many a new engine because of my risk taking. But I’m still here and that’s what matters. The birds might take damage, and they might need repairs, but they can be rebuilt. I’ve never made a call that was stupid enough to result in death and my call on this is to trust you, because I know you can do it.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do! I won’t just let anybody else fly Three, the others can prise the controls out of my cold dead hands. You can just have them.”

She didn’t miss a beat. “You better mean the controls and not your cold dead hands because I don’t want those.”

“Hey! Someone’s feeling better!” Alan stood up and offered her his hand. “Come on, we’ve still got a little bit more trash to collect before we head home.”

She took his hand and he helped her up, leading her back to the cockpit with an arm around her shoulders.

“Hey, Uncle Alan?”

“Yeah?”

“When is Uncle Brandon next coming to visit?”

“W-what?” Alan sputtered. “Since when is he Uncle Brandon?”

“Since always.” Wren shrugged. “We’re all just waiting for official permission to actually call him that to his face.”

“If you guys asked if you could call him Uncle Brandon he might actually cry.” Alan and Brandon had been together for years but with how both of their jobs were – then and still now – their time physically together always seemed to be fleeting. Making it a large factor in their decision not to do the whole family and kids thing, but they visited each other often enough; usually with Alan going to see Brandon so they could actually spend time together rather than be assaulted by a mad house. But to know his nieces and nephews were practically itching to call him ‘Uncle’… “In a good way.”

“Fine. I’ll ask him next time I see him and make sure that I have a box of tissues at the ready.”

Wren nodded resolutely and Alan laughed as they returned to their seats.

“Right. Let’s show this trash what Tracy’s are made of!”

They high fived and got back to work.

Once they got back home a couple of hours later and got changed back into their normal clothes, Alan pulled his niece into a tight hug.

“You did great today Birdie, don’t let anything make you think otherwise, okay?”

“Okay.” She mumbled, nodding against his shoulder.

“Now go on, go call Piper. I know you’re dying to.”

“Of course I am! I got to go into _space_!”

Wren grinned and took off for her room, bumping straight into Scott right outside the hangar door.

“Hi Dad! Bye Dad!”

Scott watched her a little bewildered for a moment before Alan put a hand on his shoulder.

_“How was she?”_

_“A natural.”_

When she snatched her phone up from her bedside table she saw a few notifications on the screen, one was a picture from Piper. She opened it up and saw a picture of George with his arm in yet another cast, with the caption ‘Idiot.’

The phone only rang once before Piper answered, for a moment Wren could only see the ceiling of her cousin’s bedroom before Pipers pink and blonde head appeared over the camera.

_“I’m just putting my pyjamas on Deep Space, hang on.”_

“Sure thing Deep Sea.”

Wren lounged back on her bed and waited.

She loved all of her cousins and her siblings, but Piper was her best friend too. The girls were born with only three days between them and despite being raised thousands of miles apart they had the strongest bond. They called each other every day, at least once, more than that if something exciting happened.

 _“Ready! What’s up?”_ Piper’s image bounced as she must have sat down on her bed.

“Guess where I just got back from!” Wren beamed; an excited smile crossed Piper’s face.

_“Shut up! You did not! You did not just get back from space!”_

“I did! We were only clearing up some space trash, but it was so cool!”

 _“Don’t downplay it! You went to space! Who cares what it was you were doing! You got to go into **space**!”_ Piper was grinning encouragingly. _“All I got to do today was swim and call my brother a moron!”_ She laughed. _“Did you take any cool pictures?”_

“I did! It’s so beautiful up there! I’ll send them over when we’ve finished talking. I can’t wait to go up again! Uncle Alan even let me do some of the flying by myself, I’m jut not allowed to tell Grandpa.”

_“Dad says that when he lets me drive TB4.”_

The girls both laughed.

“Makes you wonder what they got away with when they were our age doesn’t it?”

_“Well Dad has accidentally let some stories slip before when he’s trying to get Mum to calm down from telling any of us off.”_

“Yeah, Uncle Alan has done the same when Mom, Dad, Uncle Virgil or Uncle Brains go in for the tell off. Grandpa is usually left horrified and then it ends with him telling them off instead.”

The girls talked for nearly an hour until Piper had to remind Wren of their time difference and that she needed to go to sleep.

“Okay,” Wren frowned.

_“I know, but we can talk more tomorrow! And! And, and, and! Mum and Dad are planning a trip to see you guys, or at least they’ve decided on it tonight!”_

“Really?!”

_“Yeah, but don’t say anything. They haven’t said anything to anyone else yet.”_

“My lips are sealed, but now I’m really excited!”

_“Wren! Dinner’s ready!”_

“Guess I have to go too…”

It was Pipers turn to frown.

_“Speak tomorrow then,”_

“Yeah, speak to you tomorrow. I’ll send those pictures over straight away!”

Piper perked up a little. _“You better do!”_ She wagged her finger and Wren laughed.

“Goodnight Deep Sea!”

_“Enjoy your dinner Deep Space! See you soon!”_

“Bye!”

Both girls waved as they disconnected.

Wren sighed sadly as she left her room and headed to the dining room. If Piper was right though and Aunt Penny and Uncle Gordon _were_ planning a trip to Tracy Island, and nothing came up for them in England in the mean-time, it wouldn’t be long before she got to physically see her best friend again.


	10. Stealth Mode

Clover Azure Tracy

Born 2078, to Scott Carpenter Tracy and Tanusha “Kayo” Kyrano.

Youngest Child.

Clover sat by her Grandfathers feet (She’d been getting under his feet from the moment she could crawl, why stop now just because she was fifteen?) as he manned the comm array, focussing on the connection to Thunderbird Three. There was a loud bang over the line, Clover jumped and looked up.

_“Shit!”_

Clover laughed and Jeff started.

“What was that?”

 _“Nothing Dad, everything’s fine.”_ Uncle Alan’s voice came over the comm line sounding a little startled.

“That didn’t sound fine Alan.”

_“All of our readouts are fine. We haven’t been sucked out into deep space, so Three’s structural integrity is fine. We’re fine. Everything’s fine.”_

“Alan…”

 _“Everything is fine Grandpa.”_ Clover heard her sister’s voice over the comms for the first time since she cursed. _“Fine, fine, fine. Totally fine. Completely fine.”_

Jeff sighed and rubbed his temples. Clover laughed, Jeff turned his gaze down to her and winked.

_“One day I’ll make them a cake.”_

What on earth was Uncle Alan talking about?

“Alright, enough.” Jeff sighed. “Get back on the task at hand you two.”

 _“Aye, aye, Captain Grandpa.”_ Wren mock saluted.

“It’s Colonel Grandpa to you Birdie.”Jeff corrected with a smile as he closed the comm channel. “They better not destroy my rocket.”

“Technically Grandpa, TB3 is Uncle Alans rocket.”

“She was mine first Baby Spy.”

“Not for a long time now though.”

Jeff sighed. “That’s true.”

All of them had heard the story about their grandfather being missing, presumed dead, for eleven years; and how their parents and great-grandmother had soldiered on without him to make his life’s dream a reality, before finally pulling off their favourite rescue and rescuing their father from the far reaches of space.   
Despite the passage of a great deal of time, however, Jeff still went quiet when the whole incident was ever even slightly alluded to.  
Suffice it to say, they had never actually heard the story from him, and none of them really knew how to ask.

“Grandpa?”

“Hm?”

“Was it scary?”

“Was what scary sweetheart?”

“Being in space, alone, all that time…”

Jeff looked down at his youngest grandchild, grey eyes meeting one blue, one green. Named by his friend, her other grandfather, as a joke that unfortunately for her parents stuck. While her older brother and sister took after one of their parents only, it seemed, in their looks, Clover was the perfect mash up of the two. One eye from each parent, her hair was darker than her fathers but not as dark as her mother’s; she had inherited Kayo’s need for action but thankfully for everyone she had also taken on Scott’s ‘we need a plan first’ mentality.

“Come on, let’s go get dinner started.”

Clover nodded and took the hand he offered her to help her up from the floor.

They were all used to him avoiding the questions whenever they asked, that’s why the others gave up a long time ago, but Clover had been her grandfathers shadow from the moment she could crawl, and she had learned how to tell when some days were better than others.

They had been preparing dinner together in silence for a while, outside of Jeff giving instructions on what to do, before either of them spoke again.

“It was.”

Clover turned her head to look at him, confused at the statement.

“It was,” Jeff repeated, not looking up from the carrots he was chopping. “Scary.”

Clover halted. Was he actually answering her?

“Grandpa, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, you asked, and I think it’s time I stop avoiding everyone’s questions. It’s been more than thirty years since I came home, and I only ever spoke to your Great-Grandma about it then… I didn’t want to upset your parents or any of your aunts and uncles, I guess. But it _was_ scary.”

“How did you keep going?” If he was willing to talk about it, she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to ask all of the questions she wanted to.

Jeff was silent once again for a couple of moments, thinking. “Faith, I guess. Faith in your dad and your uncles, faith in your mom and aunt Penny, faith in my mom.” He smiled a little. “I knew that if I could just get the faintest trace back to them that I was still alive. Something that they would have known could have only come from me, they wouldn’t rest until they found me. I trusted them. Some days were worse than others, I’ll admit.”

“It was a long time…”

“It was. But you have to remember that when everything first happened, when I first went missing, your uncle Alan was only eight. They were all so young, I knew I might be waiting a while. But I never gave up, and thankfully neither did they.”

“Did you miss them?”

This time her grandfather’s eyes were sad, and Clover wondered if she’d overstepped a line.

“Loads. Every single day. But I knew Mom would take care of them. And I also knew that your Dad and Uncle John already knew how to cook so that wasn’t a concern of mine either.”

Clover had heard stories of Great-Grandma Tracy’s cooking, even witnessed a few of the disasters herself. Despite being the grand old age of ninety-three when her youngest Great-Grandchild was born, Sally Tracy had insisted it was still her job to take care of her rapidly expanding family, right up until the day she passed away three years ago.

“I’ve heard _those_ stories too!” Clover giggled.

“She tried her best.” Jeff laughed. “Your Great-Grandpa Tracy was an amazing cook thankfully, and that’s where I learnt my skills from. And your Great-Grandma Ruth, your Grandma’s mom, was phenomenal too. Some of the best meals I ever had were cooked by that lady.” Jeff was grinning happily at the memories, upset over his time stranded in space forgotten. “Between the four of us we managed to raise your dad and uncles into somewhat decent chef’s, even if your Uncle John seems to favour space food.”

“I didn’t think space food was that gross?”

“Not gross, just limited, and boring after a while.” He transferred half of his chopped carrots into a pan of water and the other half into a roasting tin with some potatoes.

“We look like we’re feeding an army.”

“There is eleven of us.”

“Fourteen next week.” She reminded him with a grin.

“And I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it.”

An hour later the food was almost ready, so Clover and Jeff set about the task of rounding everybody up to come and eat. Even though they could have done it easily through technology some members of the family were better physically rounded up to make sure they actually showed rather than got distracted, with two more minutes turning into ten.

“Wren! Dinner’s ready!” Clover shouted down the hallway, before moving on to finding her mother.

She found both of her parents, actually, locked in some kind of ‘romantic embrace’ that Clover never, ever wanted to see, ever again. She hadn’t even relayed her message, she had just slammed the door shut with a muttering of ‘Gross.’

After they had all eaten they were gathered in the lounge. All twelve in habitants of Tracy Island, and the three inhabitants of Thunderbird Five making their regular holographic appearance.

Clover was sat at her mother’s feet while Kayo braided her youngest daughters hair. Marie was sat with Jeff on another couch sketchpad resting on her knees, batting Clover away with a smirk if she ever strayed too close, with MAX taking his regular ‘bodyguard’ position by her head. Leo and Arthur were also sat on the floor, back to back, and resting against each other while they played some videogame that Clover didn’t understand, each at the feet of a father. Wren and Uncle Alan were occupying the chairs that doubled as Thunderbird Three’s launch pod, and Uncle Virgil was composing at the piano.

“Anything of note today guys?” Scott asked.

 _“Professionally, no.”_ John responded.

“Personally?” Jeff stiffened.

 _“George went to do some rock climbing and fell. Broke his arm.”_ Stella shrugged.

“Your cousin could have died and you just shrugged!”

_“Grandpa. It’s George. If he goes a month without breaking something we should get him an award. A real, actual, physical trophy of some sort.”_

“I’d make him one.” Leo put in from his seat on the floor by Brains’s feet.

 _“I think Penny got sufficiently angry with him about it, Jeff.”_ Ridley jumped in.

“Yeah, I was just talking to Piper and she said Aunt Penny was shouting so loud she could hear her upstairs in the manor. And that place is _huge_.” Wren added with a nod, leaning over the arm of her chair to show Alan the photo Piper had sent her.

“He’s okay though?”

“Oh yeah, completely fine apart from the broken arm. See.”

Wren’s phone connected automatically to the holocom and displayed the picture.

_“He’ll be sore tomorrow and he feels guilty as hell. Might finally put a stop to his daredevil-ing”_

Virgil snorted. “Hardly likely.” He marked a note on his page. “He’s Gordon’s kid, not just your besties big bro.”

“And we all know that Penny has a bit of a daredevil streak in her too.”

_“Would any of us be doing this job if we didn’t have just the tiniest bit of disregard for our own safety?”_

_“Stella!”_

_“Oh come on. I’ve heard how you guys met. ‘Something on that ship tried to kill me. Let’s go back and find out what it was.’ ‘Okay. Yeah, lets go.’”_

Scott, Virgil, and Alan laughed while Stella mocked her parents.

_“Who told you that story?”_

_“ **Everyone** has told me that story.”_

_“You’re not too old to be grounded.”_

_“Dad. I’m twenty-five. I live on a space station with you, Mom, and EOS as my only constant company. Do your worst.”_

_“She does have a point.”_

EOS’s avatar joined the display and John glared at where one of her cameras must be positioned, just by Stella’s head. Stella reached up and patted it affectionately, the lights on EOS’s avatar flashed a pleasant green and she laughed.

“Now you know how we all felt when EOS treated us like idiots.”

“If George was alone how did he get medical attention anyway? He always leaves his phone in his bike,” Marie asked, finally tearing her eyes away from her sketchpad. “So he told me anyhow. He likes to ‘disconnect from technology’ for a while.”

_“He got in touch with Pax and Gen. That’s all we know”_

“But how? If he left his phone in his bike he surely wasn’t carrying his bike on his back while he was climbing was he?”

As Marie continued to question what had happened Clover watched Stella’s eyes grow wider, she knew her eldest cousins warning look anywhere and made a point of kicking Marie extra hard and deliberately.

“Hey! What the hell?”

“Sorry.” She inclined her head slightly to the hologram, and Stella staring warningly at Marie.

“You know what, forget it. That boy always manages to get himself out of all of his messes somehow.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

“Sounds just like his dad.” Scott laughed.

“Ah, Squid boy and the adventure of his head stuck in the coral.”

“The _what_ In the _what_ now?”

“Yeah, that wasn’t long before George was born actually…”

_“Oh! I think I remember that! You all made fun of Uncle Gordon for months!”_

They continued to list off embarrassing stories, most from before the kids were born, until it was time to say goodnight.  
A personal favourite of Clover’s had to be Uncle Virgil learning how to create a topiary while her dad and Uncle Gordon were doing an underground rescue.

_‘What else was I supposed to do?!’_

_‘Man the comms!’_

_‘That’s John’s job!’_

As they were all heading to bed Marie put an arm around Clover’s shoulders.

“So what do you know tiny?”

“What?” Clover looked up at her cousin who was almost a head taller than her.

“You stopped me from asking questions before, about George, what do you know that I don’t?”

“Nothing,” She shook her head. “I just saw the way Stella was looking at you. I think she knows more than she’s letting on though.”

“Agreed.” Marie hugged her tight. “We’ll get it out of her next week.”

Clover grinned up at her conspiratorially.

“We will.”


	11. Full House

Alan was immediately tackled into a hug when he exited Thunderbird Five’s airlock.

“Hey Stella!” He squeezed her tight in return.

“Hey Uncle Alan!” His niece beamed at him, eyes bright. “Thank you for the pancakes, you’re the best uncle ever!”

“Only the best for our Star.”

From a little way behind them John smiled at his littlest brother and daughter, Ridley bumped him slightly as she appeared at his side.

“What are you thinking?” She whispered.

John shrugged. “Four of my favourite people in one place.”

“Soon to be replaced by a villa full.”

John pulled a face at the prospect of being surrounded by nineteen other people, not counting MAX and EOS, Ridley laughed, drawing Alan’s attention.

“Hey guys!” He waved and grinned.

“No Wren?” Ridley asked.

“She had a tough decision, space or Piper, and we all know who wins in that scenario.”

“We do.”

“Everybody ready to go?”

“Let’s do this!”

Stella and Alan fist-bumped and he pulled her along behind him and into Thunderbird Three.

“Come one Spaceman, into the rocket.”

“As you command, Captain.”

Ridley gave him a shove as she passed him, but still kissed him regardless.

The moment Thunderbird Two’s passengers had hit the tarmac of the hangar, Wren and Piper had collided in a union of loud, excited noise, heading off together without saying a word to anyone else.

“Nice to see you too Pipes!”

“Hi Uncle Scott! Bye Uncle Scott!” Piper called over her shoulder.

Scott chuckled to himself at the girls’ excitement, looking back to the others to see his youngest nephew approaching him.

“Falling off a cliff face huh?”

“Got to spice up my parent’s existence somehow.” George shrugged, producing Gordon’s trademark sheepish but cheeky grin. “I didn’t do too badly out of it if you ask me. Broken arm and a mild concussion.”

“Still, I’m going to have to request that you don’t do it again.”

“Don’t worry, Mum has made that perfectly clear. In fact, I think I’ve only just regained my full range of hearing.”

“Yeah, your mother certainly knows how to get her point across.”

“I heard that.”

Scott raised his hands in surrender. “I’m only telling the truth.”

“Fortunately, I know you are dear,” Penelope reached out and drew Scott into a hug. “It’s nice to see you.”

“You too. We need to do this a lot more often.”

“ _Un-_ fortunately we’re not all as young as we once were.”

“Tell me about it.” Scott laughed.

“Ah, yes, sixty. An age fit to be a grandparent.” Penelope smirked at him.

“Now I know why you and Gordon are such a good fit.” Scott rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you’re not far off, princess.”

“Two whole years yet darling.”

“And while the two of you continue to catch up and insult each other’s longevity I’m going to go and find Leo and Arthur.” George mock saluted his mother and uncle as he left the hangar.

“That one is going to be the death of me.”

“Hey, you married Gordon, I don’t know what you were expecting.” Scott shrugged. “Ow!”

As soon as they arrived on the island Stella had retreated to her room, gotten a proper shower, and changed into some normal clothes before being willing to face anyone else.

When she reappeared, her hair was still damp and twisting into the natural curls she had inherited from her mother, and she was suddenly cornered by two younger cousins.

“What do you know?” Marie asked, she was always straight to the point.

“I know a lot of things.” Stella dismissed.

“You know what she means.” Clover was staring at her pointedly, arms folded across her chest, doing a magnificent impression of Aunt Kayo.

Stella laughed. “Are you talking about what happened with George?”

They both nodded.

“He left his phone in his bike, like you said,” She nodded at Marie. “And he called up through the comms. Luckily for him I was solo at the time, and I put him through to Pax and Gen. Aunt Penny and Uncle Gordon were never supposed to find out what had actually happened but the hospital called them and basically said ‘your child is here again’. And that was how they found out.”

“Surely they’d have noticed the broken arm.”

“He was going to say he fell out of a tree.” Stella shrugged.

Clover wrinkled her nose. “Why didn’t he tell the doctors he fell out of a tree?”

“You never lie to a doctor about how you got hurt, or they might not be able to treat you properly.” Marie told her, wise words learned from her dad and Great-Grandma Tracy herself.

“Are we done with interrogation now? I’m in the mood to raid the kitchen for some junk food and watch movies for the rest of the day. And _if_ the two of you would like to join me, you’re more than welcome.”

Four hours, and two movies later all of the Tracy grandchildren were gathered together in the movie room, blankets, cushions, pillows, snack packets, and people strewn everywhere.

“Do we have to watch old Disney movies?” Arthur groaned as he tried unsuccessfully to snatch the remote from his oldest cousin’s hand.

Stella didn’t have to put much effort into holding it out of his reach.

“This was my idea, I was going to do this regardless of whether you guys joined me or not, so like it or lump it as great-grandma used to say.”

“Ah, I miss Grandma Sally…” Leo sighed, but smiled.

“If there’s time to lean there’s time to clean!” Marie giggled.

“Remember when Uncle Alan hid in Three for a whole day just to avoid her cookies?”

“Yeah, he came up to Five in the end just to pretend he was doing something.” Stella laughed. “I think EOS ratted him out.”

“I was so offended he didn’t take me along that I didn’t talk to him for the next day.” Wren spoke up from the veritable nest that she and Piper had created in the corner of the room.

“If I’m going to be subjected to this can I at least choose the next one?” Arthur asked, bringing the conversation back to his original point.

Stella handed the remote over. “Fine. But it has to be Disney, or I’ll get EOS to lock you out of One.”

“So long as it’s not Up, Coco, or Big Hero Six.” George told him.

Arthur gave him a look. “Why?”

“They make him cry.” Paxton explained with a smirk.

“If you say you didn’t absolutely bawl your eyes out at Up then you my big bro are a _liar_.”

“Who _didn’t_ cry at Up though?”

“I didn’t.” Arthur shrugged.

“You _did_.” Clover insisted. “You did cry at Up you filthy liar, in fact, you said you’d never watch it again because no kids movie had any business being that sad.”

“No, I didn’t.” He hissed.

“Yes, you did. I remember.” Wren added, backing her sister up.

“Does anybody want two little sisters? Completely for sale, good price too. One likes space and the other is a tattle tale to end all tattle tales.”

“No thanks,” George shook his head. “I have enough of those.”

“What? Sisters or tattle tales?” Leo asked.

“Siblings in general.”

“I’ll take them off your hands.” Stella offered.

Clover immediately got to her feet and clambered over George and Leo, dragging her blanket along behind her, and dropped into Stella’s lap. She was instantly hugged close.

“I’ve never thought of it before, but is it weird being an only child?” Gen asked, looking around to the eldest.

Arthur snorted. “You’ve never thought about it because you’ve literally never been it.”

“Your mom and dad had three kids in three years. Like you remember being an only one.”

“I do, best eleven months of my life.”

Wren threw her empty popcorn bucket at him and he laughed.

“I’m not an only child.” Stella answered simply, brushing some of Clover’s hair from her forehead.

“EOS doesn’t count.” Paxton gestured at her with his soda.

“She absolutely does. Ask Grandpa who the first grandchild was, I guarantee he won’t say me.”

“Bet.” Paxton accepted. “But not right now.”

“Ask him at dinner then.”

“Fine. I will.”

“Fine.”

“You’re losing your bet.” Clover chimed in, in a sing song voice.

“Shut it tiny.” Paxton threw a handful of popcorn at her but missed and hit Stella in the face instead.

She glared at him and Paxton’s eyes instantly widened in fear.

“I’m sorry?” He squeaked.

Despite growing up with five siblings, resulting in a house that contained a horrendous amount of noise, both John and Alan were a little taken back when they heard the commotion coming from the movie room as they passed by.

“Do you think we should…?”

“ _You_ should.” Alan corrected him. “I have no children, and therefore no parental obligation to check on strange noises that may or may not be uttered by my nieces and or nephews.”

Alan tried to pass by John, but the neck of his t-shirt was seized in a tight grip. He wasn’t going anywhere.

“Aw, come on! I want to go call Brandon while I still have a chance and I’m not being assaulted by ten nieces and nephews.”

“You can help me with this and _then_ go call your boyfriend.”

Even nearing fifty years of age Alan still had the little brother pout down to a fine art.

“You’re not the baby anymore, that doesn’t work.” John told him, not loosening his grip.

“What the hell is going on down here?” Scott asked. “I can hear the noise in the gym.”

John turned to him, keeping a firm hold of Alan. “Do you ever rest?”

Scott snorted, and cocked an eyebrow at his first youngest brother. “Do you?”

“Fair point.”

_“ARTHUR!”_

“You know what,” Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. “I practically raised three teenagers while I was still in my twenties and I still don’t know how to deal with them.”

“That’s why you just have the one.” John smirked.

“You act like Kayo and I planned three kids in three years.”

“I seem to remember that you didn’t even _plan_ one.”

“Does anyone plan their kids?” Scott shrugged.

“Stella was planned.”

Scott shot John a look.

“Maybe she didn’t stick with her assigned timings, but she’s a true Tracy, likes to keep everyone on their toes. At least we didn’t find out we were having a second child when the first was only three months old.”

“Yeah, that freak out was intense.” Alan agreed with a nod.

“And just for that,” Scott took hold of Alan’s arm.

“What’reyoudoing?”

“Have fun being the sacrificial lamb baby bro.”

“Wait. What? No!”

Scott opened the door to the movie room with his free hand and shoved Alan into the room, banging the door shut behind him.

Amidst the chaos Alan managed to turn back to the door, unnoticed and try to wrench it open, only to find it tightly held shut, no doubt by a big brother’s hand, or two. He sighed.

“What the hell are you guys doing?!” Alan shouted and the noise ceased immediately.

“Movie day.” Stella answered as she tried to untangle some caramel popcorn from Piper’s hair.

“Ow!” The teenager squealed.

“Yeah I can see that,” Alan gestured to the screen which was still paused on the selection menu. “But what’s with all the yelling?”

“Arthur was rude.”

“Pax started it!”

“Food fight.” Leo supplied, ruffling what looked like the remains of Doritos out of his hair.

“Really?”

He didn’t miss the look that crossed all of their faces, preparing for some form of a telling off.

“What a waste of popcorn.” He sighed, shaking his head.

“Wait. You’re not going to tell us off and make us clean up right now?”

“Pfft! No. I’m still going to tell you guys to clean it up, but I’m your uncle, not your parent. We did much worse when we were your age.” Alan sat down in the nearest unoccupied chair.

“Ooo! Ooo!” Clover leapt up from her hiding spot in the corner of the room, making Alan jump (too much like Kayo), and moved to sit at his feet staring up at him expectantly. “Story time!”

“You guys already know all of the stories!” Alan laughed.

“Not true.” Genevieve shook her head.

“We only know all of the _rescue_ stories.” Paxton finished.

“Give us something we can use.” Arthur requested only for Stella to shoot him a look and Wren to hit him square in the face with a cushion.

Alan looked around him. Every single face was watching him, waiting, eager for knowledge and stories only he could deliver. In the past, when he was in a room of eleven people, he was the youngest, with none of the answers; Now he’s the oldest and it seems they’re pretty sure he holds all of them.

“Okay, have I ever told you guys about…”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was worth putting up with my teasers and the waiting! ❤️


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